Five years later, role reversal almost over

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly five years ago, it was announced that Oregon and Tennessee had agreed to meet each other in football in 2010 and 2013.

The year before, in 2004, Tennessee went 10-3 and won the Cotton Bowl. Oregon endured its only losing season under Mike Bellotti, going 5-6. The future series set up as the young West Coast upstarts taking on the traditional Southern power.

But a funny thing happened in the intervening years. The Vols went 5-6 in the fall of 2005, when the series with Oregon was announced, and the Ducks went 10-2. Over the ensuing four seasons, Tennessee was 31-21, and Oregon went 36-13.

So much for upstarts. So much for the traditional Southern power.

This evening, the Ducks and Volunteers will finally meet on the football field, prior to a rematch in Eugene in 2013. Oddsmakers made Oregon the favorite by nearly two touchdowns.

The Ducks are currently ranked seventh in the country after beating New Mexico 72-0 this season, while the Volunteers have a third head coach in three years, and have suffered for that turnover in both recruiting and national perception.

Once, the notion of Oregon being overconfident entering a game at Tennessee would be laughable. This week, UO receiver Jeff Maehl gave the subject genuine consideration when posed with the question.

“We definitely don’t want to go into it like we did last year into Boise State,” Maehl said, recalling the Ducks’ deflating defeat to open 2009. “I feel like last year when we were watching tape (of the Broncos), we kind of felt like we were going to overmatch them, and we made a lot of mistakes and what happened, happened. So I think we’ve just got to take the momentum that we had from last week and build on the mistakes we made and go in there focused.” Click here for the complete story.